Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

This was rather enjoyable! Good world building and detail. A little slow at the beginning, but the ending was good and I will be looking to see what comes next!

So this was one of those fabulous stories that I stayed up too late reading, because I got so involved in the world and invested in the characters. I rejoiced and commiserated with Kion through all of his trials; I hoped that Tiryn would pull through; and I giggled (and maybe even snorted a time or two) at Zinder’s antics. The author did a beautiful job of crafting characters that I enjoyed getting to know and then placing them in situations that made me want to cheer them on.

It is easy to give this story 4.5 out of 5 stars, because I thoroughly relished reading it. And now I am so looking forward to reading the next book in The Swordspeaker Saga. 🙂

Many thanks to the author and NetGalley for the digital copy of this book for review purposes. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions are my very own! 🙂

Truesilver is a fun YA fantasy. Hero, hardship, magic sword, and fantastic friend; classic good vs evil. I really enjoyed the journey.

A YA fantasy, this has many of the classic coming of age story tropes. There is a young man with a heroic destiny, a wise old man to be his mentor and a sword meant to be wielded by the brave hero. Some aspects of it reminded me of a YA version of The Sword Of Truth series. It’s fairly clean and well written for a younger audience.

This book had many good points as well as some challenges that detracted from the overall story.

Kion Bray is our MC and he is an outcast in his town. The people of Furrow seem to dislike him because of his father’s cowardly mistakes during a great battle which nearly led to defeat. Kion wants to redeem his family’s name and clear his father of wrongdoing by entering the annual sword fighting contest to prove his family is brave. It seemed as though his motives were more selfish than he claimed and he was more trying to prove that he was brave in spite of his father to stop the endless harassment from the townspeople.

The writing was descriptive and vivid occasionally to the point of a little over embellished but it really set the scene for each location and did draw me in as a reader. Unfortunately, the pacing was a sticky point. It was very slow to start and things didn’t pick up until halfway in. It made it very difficult to stay interested and connected, as well as feel invested into Kion. Kion also came off as very impulsive and immature at first. He seemed to care more about proving everyone wrong that it didn’t feel like it was out of love for his father but because he was trying to protect his own pride and ego. He is supposed to be independent and hard working, nearly a man at 17, but he comes off very childish. Some of his actions come off as cruel even, in the treatment of his sheep, and it makes the reader wonder how he is the “chosen one” in this sense. Things really pick up about 3/4 through the book and things start to come together, Kion seems to mature more to fit his role and the ending leaves us waiting for a sequel.

This book has the quintessential sidekick best friend who provides some lighthearted moments, the dark army that must be battled to save the country, and a sword with incredible powers. Despite it’s pitfalls for an advanced adult reader, it has all the hallmarks of a book that young readers will enjoy.